Chamber Supports “Controlled” Asset Sell Down....

The Auckland Chamber of Commerce wants strict controls
placed on any sell down of assets by the Auckland City
Council as a result of the Birch Expenditure Review.

Michael Barnett, chief executive of the Auckland
Chamber of Commerce, said that the Chamber had long been an
advocate for the Council disposing of commercial assets such
as carparks, airport shares and operating businesses.

The Chamber has also advocated that housing is a
central government not a local government role. The
continued role of Council using ratepayers’ money to
subsidise selected tenants in central Auckland is double
taxation on Auckland ratepayers who pay once via their taxes
to support NZ lower income earners in state housing and
again through their rates.

“We favour using the
sell down to retire debt and using the balance to create an
infrastructure development fund to be used under strict
rules to ensure its sustainability for the long term benefit
of the City.”

It is plainly not a core business of
Council to be owning and operating carparks where the
Council is competing with private sector operators while
also regulating them. “That’s an abuse of the private sector
and a potential conflict of interest in the role to be an
impartial regulator.”

Despite the Review coming up
with close to 50 recommendations to save money, Mr Barnett
said that the findings were not all one way. “It is
reassuring that good business practice and management by the
Council’s executive has been confirmed.”

The Birch
Review is a timely contributor to the coming debate on why
granting local authorities a power of general competence
could be a huge mistake, said Mr Barnett.

“Plainly,
Auckland City’s performance proves that virtually anything
and everything that councillors dream up can be established
under the current legislative framework and without strict
cost benefit analysis, to the extent that the majority of
rate payers’ money is being diverted to non-core areas.”

A power of general competence plainly is not needed and
will only be a distraction to Mayor Banks’ challenge to get
Councillors focused on giving priority to delivering high
quality core services.

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